He Aint Heavy, He's My Manna.

Quinn sat in Thierry's mansion running his fingers through his dark locks. It needed cutting, who was he kidding, it needed cutting badly. But he had bigger problems at the moment. How long could he keep something like this a secret for? They were bound to find out. The place was crawling with telepathic beings for Goddess' sake. Witches, Shapeshifters, Vampires. If he had not been such a strong telepath himself he was certain they would have found out already. He was John Quinn, he was used to hiding behind walls. But this...

He sighed deeply, taking a moment to relax now he was alone, even though in the Night World you were never truly alone. One of Thierry's lackies could well be watching him now. He could sense people but not hidden webcams.

No, he straightened up, he was John Quinn, he would show no weakness. He would, no must keep this secret for her. Her problems were his now, no matter what.

"No matter what" He muttered out loud.

Thierry himself strode through the small anteroom, he carried with him a dictaphone "And let the witches know that I am not making the official logo of Circle Daybreak tye-dye. I don't care how much Thea Harman moans about Mother Earth and unity, I gave in over the 'I've found my soulmate ask me how?' bumper stickers, this one she'll just have to get over"

Quinn sniggered, the Night World elder had been a lot more forth coming to the witches strange requests since Lady Hannah had taken up residence. Not that she was voicing opinions on whether the Hearth Women could have a foam party. Quinn just thought that since the world's oldest vampire had his soulmate in his house rather than having to spend eternity searching for her, well he didn't really much care about anything else. He personally didn't blame him, he'd feel the same except...

"Quinn, Good!" Thierry saw him sitting at a small table in a corner "I was looking for you, or rather Rashel"

"Rashel?" Oh dear, he should have known he would have to deal with questioning at some point

The elder tilted his head his pale blonde hair falling on his forehead "I've just had a shipment of, well rather unusual weaponry. I know samurai is her area of expertise. I wondered if she'd take a look at a couple of the pieces for me"

"Rashel is..." He searched "Not well" Humans got ill didn't they?

"I thought I'd not seen her around the mansion recently" A look of concern spread over the elder's face "Nothing serious I hope"

"No, No" Quinn rushed, what could he say, to avoid questions, questions were bad and Thierry looked like he wanted to ask a lot of questions. "Just..." Think, human dieases, quick! "err Meningitis . Nothing serious, she'll be fine in a week or two"

Thierry raised a eyebrow "Meningitis? She seen a doctor?"

He shrugged feeling more relaxed "Rachel said not to bother, she's had it before. She just needs to rest and she'll be up and beating up Eric as per usual"

Thierry went to open his mouth then thought the better of it "That's fine Quinn, you let me know when she's feeling better" He patted him on the shoulder knowing full well it was a tad patronising, shuffled out the door.

Quinn let out a sigh of relief. That had been close. He didn't know much about human biology apart from the obvious, but apparently neither did Thierry. He just couldn't let anyone know. The shame would kill them, it would kill them both.

Thierry strode away from the anteroom, straight towards Keller's room. If anyone would know, she would. Quinn had been acting nervous, and that was very unQuinn like. Something bad enough to unsettle the Mr Cool of the Night World had to be moved straight to the top of his to-do list. He had noticed that Rashel hadn't been around the mansion for sometime, the weapons collection had been a white lie. If he wanted his collection looking over he'd do it himself, after all he'd got most of the pieces from China himself. So one of his agents was missing and her soulmate was very edgy. He ran through the options in his mind. Kidnapping was the obvious one. Because he was pretty sure that you didn't recover from Meningitis in a week with rest.

He knocked on the door.

Half an hour later he emerged from Keller's room, his eyes wide. He ran his fingers through his blonde hair.

"Well"

Keller had not seen Rashel. Except once, from a distance. She had called her name but she had walked past like she was not there. Keller said she could only see that Rashel had 'put on weight' a lot of weight in such a short time.

No wonder Quinn was nervous, if Rashel was pregnant. Jesus, she was still only a teenager. Still, he laughed to himself. Quinn was over 500 years old, he should be over the whole panic stricken young father thing. He sighed, no he would reassure them that they would protect Rashel, look after her, after all vampire/human hybrids were extremely rare.

He went off in search of Quinn.

Quinn had gone home. They didn't live in the mansion. He thanked the Goddess everyday that they had chosen a apartment in Vegas. At the time they had said they needed their freedom, their space. Such irony. He looked at his soulmate, a mere shadow of her former self.

She used to be so bright, so vibrant, so full of energy. Look what its done to her.

The doorbell rang, the vampire froze. Who would be calling round? Who would? he felt his chest tighten. No! No! He had worked so hard to keep this secret. He wouldn't let it all fall apart now. He wouldn't answer it!

The doorbell rang again, it seemed to laugh at him.

"Get that will you Quinn"

It rang again, mockingly. It was worse than that raven in that Edgar Allen Poe poem.

"Quinnnnnnnn!" Rashel shouted

"Okay I'm going!" He shouted back. He walked over to the door and opened it tentatively, placing his body in the entrance. He may have opened the door, but that didn't mean they had to get in.

"Thierry, what can I do for you?" He plastered a smile on his face.

The NightWorld Elder looked grave "Can I come in" He asked quietly

He gritted his teeth "Rashel's sleeping, I don't want to wake her up"

Thierry sighed "Quinn, I know she doesn't have Meningitis"

"Oh?"

"Well for one thing its usually fatal" He retorted

"Oh"

There was a icy silence that floated between the two vampires and Quinn reached for what to say. What could he say?

Thierry looked up with his solomn eyes "I know Quinn, I know Rashel's pregnant"

The made vampire's jaw dropped "What the..."

"Its okay Quinn" He continued "I know its frightening and scary but I want to help. I want to protect the both" He smiled wryly "Well the three of you"

Quinn didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Thierry looked so dreadfully earnest, and uncomfortable, like he was explaining to Quinn that it okay that he wasn't potty trained yet. "Rashel's not pregnant"

"Denial will not help you"

He sighed, he felt tired suddenly, so tired. He had not slept properly since...Maybe Thierry was right, maybe he did need help. Maybe this was too much for the two of them to deal with on their own.

"No really" He countered. He looked his lord and master dead in the eye. "Can I trust you Thierry Descoudres. I mean really trust you."

Thierry's gaze did not waver. "Of course"

Quinn stepped back from the entrance to the apartment "Then you had better come in" He shot him an icy look back over his shoulder, warningly "This goes no further than you and me"

"Understood"

The apartment was dark, not a problem for sharp vampire eyes. Thierry moved around through the hallway with easy into the living room. No lights he thought. Why are all the lights off?

"Rashel prefers it this way" Quinn replied reading his thoughts.

Suddenly Thierry was afraid, what had happened, what had she become?